Composite materials are increasingly being used for the manufacture of precision parts where strength and low weight are desired characteristics. Composite material may take the form of slit tape or tow in one-eighth inch, one-quarter inch, and one-half inch widths, depending on the surface that is being laid-up. Ideally, a manufacturer would like to use a variety of tow widths on a part, but the cost of multiple machines to lay-up several widths of tow on the same part makes such an approach cost prohibitive. One solution is to use the same positioner with different heads and to couple the replacement heads with different sizes of tow, but rethreading the machine and the head takes a significant amount of time, making this approach impractical.
It would accordingly be desirable to provide an integrated head and creel that could be quickly mounted on a positioner in order to lay up a desired size of tow in a time and cost efficient manner.